WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street tumbled
again Wednesday with all the major indexes dropping more than 7 percent, a day
after the Bush Administration announced new measures to take stake in major
banks to strengthen the banking industry.

Under the take-it-or-leave-it plan, the U.S.
government will use a portion of the 700 billion dollar financial rescue package
to inject capital into banks by directly purchasing equity shares.

U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson
(R) listens to U.S. President George W. Bush (L) speaks during a Cabinet
meeting to discuss the economy in the Cabinet Room at the White House in
Washington October 15, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)Photo Gallery>>>

The government will initially buy stocks in nine
major U.S. banks under its 250 billion dollars purchase plan, said President
George W. Bush.

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells
Forgo, will each get 25 billion dollars in government funds, Goldman Sachs and
Morgan Stanley 10 billion dollars each, and Bank of New York Mellon and State
Street between 2 billion and 3 billion dollars each.

In return, the government will get ownership stakes
in the financial institutions. Banks, meanwhile, will have to accept limitations
on executives' compensation.

"This new capital will help struggling banks fill the
hole created by losses during the financial crisis, so they can resume lending
and help spur job creation and economic growth," Bush said.

He said that this will address one of the central
problems plaguing the financial system -- banks have been unable to borrow
money.

Created in 1933 in response to the thousands of bank
failures that occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s, the FDIC preserves and
promotes public confidence in the U.S. financial system by insuring deposits in
banks and thrift institutions.

Also, the FDIC will immediately and temporarily
expand government insurance to cover all non-interest bearing transaction
accounts. These accounts are used primarily by small businesses to cover
day-to-day operations.

The fourth measure Bush announced is that the Federal
Reserve will soon finalize work on a new program to serve as a buyer of last
resort for commercial paper.

"This is a key source of short-term financing for
American businesses and financial institutions," Bush said.

By unfreezing the market for commercial paper, he
said, the U.S. central bank will help American businesses meet payroll, and
purchase inventory, and invest to create jobs.

"These efforts are designed to directly benefit the
American people by stabilizing the financial system and helping the economy
recover," the president said.

The new measures the U.S. government is taking came
after the G7 revealed a plan of action in Washington Friday to jointly fight the
ongoing global financial crisis, pledging "to continue working together to
stabilize financial markets and restore the flow of credit, to support global
economic growth."

Bush said he's confident that "in the long run, that
this economy will come back."

Investors signaled growing confidence that the
biggest U.S. banks would survive the crisis. The cost of buying insurance
against defaults by some big U.S. banks fell by record amounts, while remaining
above normal levels.

Interbank loan rates starting has eased, though
modestly, while the yield on safe short-term U.S. Treasuries moved higher, as
risk appetite improved, according to the media.

The government rescue "was important in removing the
immediate panic. But there's still going to be a sense of vigilance in the
credit markets, and the bigger question is how much of this becomes a credit
problem later on," said Kathleen Shanley, an analyst covering financial
institutions at Gimme Credit, a research firm.

However, the stock market failed to build on its
historic gain on Monday amid concerns over a deep recession.

The Dow Jones industrials tumbled by 733.08 points to
8,577.91 on Wednesday, following a 77 point decline on Tuesday.

Anil Kashyap, professor of economics and finance at
the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, said that it is hard to
tell whether the 250 billion dollars will be sufficient to encourage banks to
lend again.

"This plan will work if we wind up with everybody
pretty well capitalized," Kashyap said. "But if it doesn't reach that point,
we'll be back in soup down the road."

David Reilly, a columnist of The Wall Street Journal,
said that the U.S. economy will still be faltering, earnings will remain under
pressure, unemployment will continue rising and home prices will keeping
falling.

"In other words, even if Paulson's latest plan
addresses immediate problems facing the financial system, markets still have to
contend with long-term issues that existed before the market meltdown began in
September," he added.